Every Morning, My Mirror Saves the World - Chapter 47

Chapter 47

“I keep feeling like they’re all staring at us.” Galahad stopped what he was doing and glanced around uneasily.

“You’re overthinking it. This spot is so out of the way, only the great Lord Vigia could have found it. Hurry, hurry, I want that one too. Ahhh–” Vigia happily rummaged through the plates, her big watery eyes fixed expectantly on Galahad as she opened her mouth wide.

Galahad stuffed a deep-sea crystal shrimp from the cold platter into Vigia’s mouth and was rewarded with a satisfied wag of her tail. Her short, powerful pink tail went pat-pat-pat, then stood straight up, the tip bending to point from afar at the plate of polar scallops beside them…

The spectators ten meters away gasped in wonder. “Whoa! She wagged her tail again! It’s standing up, it’s standing up! It even bent!”

Vigia turned her head in displeasure and bared her teeth to express her anger, then immediately turned back and wagged her tail ingratiatingly. “That one, that one! Human fingers are so clumsy, I’m not used to them. Hurry up and feed me~~”

The silver-haired, golden-eyed beauty wore a black evening gown with a plunging neckline and bare back, wantonly displaying her proud curves. One casual glance from those golden eyes carried enough allure to outshine every woman in the room. Half of the beauty’s body was draped over the tall, handsome Silver Knight, the surging swell of her chest swaying with blatant sensuality as she blinked, bit her finger, acted cute, and begged to be fed. Her adorable tail waved merrily through the opening cut into the back of her evening gown…

Before the banquet began, Galahad and Vigia had very cleverly come up with a way to attend together: Moon Prism Transformation! But perhaps because it was not a full moon and the Moon Prism’s battery was insufficient, Vigia’s beauty, chest, and intelligence had not changed at all. She had only gained a tail. It was harmless enough, but that tail created a certain obstacle to their shared wish to quietly hide in a corner and eat their fill.

Vigia narrowed her eyes, admiring the Dannilu Fruit she had deliberately saved on top of her cake, then happily cupped it in both hands and bit down.

From the darkness, a pale hand reached out like a ghost. After a crisp crack, two rows of neat white dragon teeth snapped together with force.

Clutching her aching cheeks, Vigia turned back in incandescent fury. Behind her, the person who had stolen the treasure she had deliberately saved for last was chewing unhurriedly. Noticing Vigia’s gaze, she spat out the pit with a ptoo and said, somewhat dissatisfied, “I wondered what it was. It just tastes like a cherry.”

“Then give it back to me!” Vigia burst into tears. “You bandit! I found this place first! Everything here is mine!”

“To be precise,” Ruiyin said, slowly putting the hood of her dark-gray cloak back on, “I was the one here first. I was here long before ‘War God Xisaluo, we finally found food!’ Thank this outfit, which is completely unlike Lord Vigia’s taste, for making you two utterly fail to notice my existence.”

“Y-you were here the whole time?” Galahad asked in surprise, his neck bent crooked by the weight of the two soft mounds pressing down on his shoulder. “Why aren’t you staying inside?”

Ruiyin pulled her hood down to cover her face, her voice filled with gloomy disgust. “At a banquet where the men’s clothes look like they’re competing over the weight of their gold, the women’s clothes look like they’re competing over breast size, and every conversation is inseparable from boasting, flattery, and pretending everything is fine, would any normal person sincerely want to stay inside? Aside from people like you who came for the food, I mean.”

Galahad looked into the distance. Sure enough, among the onlookers gathered in a ten-meter radius beyond the dining table, there was not a single normal person to be found.

“…Then why are you still here?”

“Because, of course,” Ruiyin said, puffing out her chest, her voice carrying an indescribable pride, “today is Lars’s big day!”

Ruiyin took a dagger from inside her cloak and began spreading butter on a slice of bread. Beneath the cloak, her shadowed gaze swept excitedly over the hall. “Do you see? This person! This one! And this one! No matter how wealthy they are, no matter how overwhelming their power, tonight they are all just Lars’s foils! As the knight chosen by the God of War, Juvina has asked him to make his entrance at the very end to rally morale. From this day forth, he will set foot on an unstoppable hero’s path. Even if all these people are abnormal, Lars is still the captain of the abnormal squad!”

By the end, Ruiyin simply flicked her dagger. The blade pierced through four or five slices of buttered toast, and she grabbed the knife and began eating with relish.

The crowd watching the Little Dragon Girl scattered so fast they left afterimages behind…

This grand banquet was saturated everywhere with Juvina’s uniquely flamboyant style. The wineglasses in the gentlemen’s hands shimmered with a grape-red glow, while the ladies lightly held small silk-flower fans, covering their lips as they spoke softly, smiles faint upon their faces. Ruiyin, wearing a traveler’s cloak that clashed with everyone around her, quietly waited for that person’s arrival.

The luxurious hall illuminated by chandeliers slowly fell silent. Under magical control, the candle flames went out one by one. In the end, the only light sources remaining were two candles at the far end of the hall. Inside crystal covers, their eerie blue flames flickered, illuminating a small patch of space and the two people standing there.

“Welcome, my honored guests.” Juvina, dressed in a magnificent deep-crimson cloak, smiled and raised his glass.

His Highness the prince had taken particular care with his appearance tonight. His slightly curled long golden hair and sea-blue eyes glowed enchantingly beneath the dim light. He took a small sip of the grape-red wine in his glass, and when he spoke, his low voice was like a movement played on a cello. Faced with such seductive beauty, not to mention those fans of the prince, even Vigia, who had long known the truth, could not help revealing an entranced expression.

But in Ruiyin’s eyes, even Juvina like this could not draw attention away from the person behind him.

He had once again put on that suit of black, boss-tier armor. He wore no helmet. Beneath the eerie blue candlelight, his ink-black hair, emerald eyes, and silent, sternly chiseled face made him look at first glance like a lone wolf howling at the moon atop a hill of bones, suffused with desolation and killing intent.
The blood-red Sword of Shadow had no sheath. It hung at the waist of his armor. He said nothing, only stood quietly behind Juvina, as steady and enduring as a mountain. He was like a shadow in the dark, a vast presence with blurred edges, existing only because light was absent.

This was Lars. He resembled the World-Destroying Holy Archmage she had once seen in the mirror, and also the puppy-like, mentally deficient little boy she had met at the beginning. Yet he also seemed different from either of them. While she had not been paying attention, he had grown into someone reliable enough to trust.

He was her only meaning in this world.

Ruiyin paid absolutely no attention to what Juvina said. As though sensing her openly admiring gaze, the man in the shadows shifted uneasily, then slowly stepped out.

Under the dim lamplight, his brow cast two deep shadows. Lars raised the wineglass in one hand and, with the other, slowly drew the longsword at his waist.

His face solemn, he recited the knight’s prayer in a low voice. “Great War God Xisaluo, your faithful believer, Lars de Praetextatus, in the name of the Chariot, the Scales, and the Silver Sword, offers you my loyalty and justice, and would sacrifice to you my life and soul. Grant us victory.”

The blood-red liquid reflected the blood-red blade. The wine and the young man’s now-deep, hoarse voice intertwined, as if the grinding winds of a battlefield had polished every heart present. Even the proudest nobles could not help falling silent. They raised their glasses and murmured in unison, “Grant us victory.”

It was an absolutely perfect performance of the bogus holy-man persona Ruiyin had planned from start to finish.

At first, she had worried he might act stupid at such an important occasion, but facts proved that Lars was, comparatively speaking, a reliable existence. He had executed every detail she had drilled into him before the banquet very well. A faint smile curved Ruiyin’s lips. She stood in the corner and watched him like she was watching a raw stone she had personally polished reveal a diamond’s brilliant radiance under everyone’s admiring eyes.

“It’s time,” Ruiyin murmured. If Galahad had not been standing beside her, no one would have heard that the words came from her.

“What do you mean, it’s time…” Galahad asked in confusion, but before he could finish, he and Vigia, who was hanging off him, both sucked in a cold breath.

Under every eye in the hall, Lars, the focus of the entire room, was actually walking toward this inconspicuous corner!

He passed through brilliantly dressed nobles, powerful knights, and mages, slowly approaching from the dim light. His armor reflected a chilling dark gleam, and the smile on his face was so serene it was impossible to read. He looked at Ruiyin with a smile, but the emotion in those emerald eyes was no longer something she could see through. Lars slowly extended his hand and stood before her in a posture of invitation.

The woman in the ragged gray cloak stood there quietly, neither servile nor overbearing, letting Lars remain in place for a long while. His body leaned forward, his handsome face right beside her. If she only turned her head, she would see those shining eyes. Only after a very long time did Ruiyin finally move. A little impatiently, she slapped Lars’s hand while swiftly stuffing a note into it.

Lars’s outfit was a very showy suit of armor with a long cloak attached. Under the cloak’s cover, he quickly glanced at the contents of the note, then instantly went rigid all over.

The deputy commander of the Allied Forces turned back in wounded silence, his lips pressed into an aggrieved pout.

Ruiyin, who thought she had understood everything, looked at him strangely. What kind of reaction was that? Wasn’t this brat coming over for the cheat sheet for the second half because he had forgotten his lines?

Lars remained deeply wounded. A tiny dimple appeared in his puffed-out cheek. “I memorized all of it! I just wanted to ask you to dance…”

You think someone wearing show-off armor and someone wearing a Death Eater cloak should dance together? What is this, a costume ball?!

Lars said in a tiny voice, “I worked really hard to memorize the lines and the movements. You said you would reward me. Don’t worry about what those people think! If Ruiyin cares, then I’ll kill them all… knock them all out!”

…What was with that weird pause? Do you dare explain it? And even after changing the words, it’s still terrifying, okay?!

Ruiyin fell silent for a long, long time, while the expectant light in the eyes of the person before her never went out. After nearly a century seemed to pass, she finally, slowly extended her hand.

Lars stared at that hand as it hesitantly approached, forcibly suppressing the urge to grab it at once and hide it in his arms. He held his breath and waited quietly for the moment she delivered herself to him. Thirty centimeters left, ten centimeters, one centimeter…

Boom!

With a tremendous crash, the banquet hall’s floor-to-ceiling glass shattered as if smashed by a giant hammer, instantly turning into dust-like particles that sprayed and poured into the room. The candlelight in the already dim venue was extinguished all at once by the wild wind. Lars pulled Ruiyin over, turned, and shielded her in his arms while turning back warily to look.

“Creatures who don’t forget to enjoy themselves even before war begins… The fact that things like you can still stand above us is truly sickening…”

Purple moonlight poured indoors through the gaping window. Beneath the bewitching glow, the intruder’s mithril-long hair streamed wildly in the night wind. On that exquisitely monstrous face, a pair of blood-red eyes narrowed in delight. “Good evening, foolish and filthy humans.”

Author’s Note:

Landatini makes his ultra-flashy entrance! For the most chuuni lines, look no further!

Lars: …I wasn’t asking for a cheat sheet! I really memorized everything QAQ!